Bungie reveal what they learned from making Halo, “planning for success” with Destiny

Bungie has revealed the lessons that they learned from developing Halo and how they will be fed into the creation of the upcoming Destiny.

The creative lead on the game, Joe Staten, will be speaking in the new Edge Magazine which is due out August 1st. He talks about where he feels the future of the FPS genre lies and how Destiny aims to get there.

Staten said that he thinks they “did two things well” with the Halo games:

I think we did two things well with the Halo games.

One, we told a story that you can play by yourself or with a small group of friends. And two, we made a great hardcore, competitive game. Between those two choices we tried to do other things – Firefight, for example – but the options are very slim, and I think that’s true for most shooters. Between those two poles there’s a vast gulf of opportunities but a lack of choices. We want to very carefully bring those two communities together and open up those choices.

Staten also discussed how the first Halo games were considered as individual experiences and how they are developing Destiny with a long term plan in mind:

The big lesson [from Halo] is: if you don’t have a plan for the future, you’re scrambling to catch up with your own success.

This time we’re planning for success, and that’s enabled us to imagine a future where many things are possible. It allows the plot a long arc, which is great. In Halo we certainly didn’t have that. We planned for an eight-hour experience then, two years later, figured out another eight-hour experience. This time we’re thinking about how you grow and evolve this world over many years, many hours. It’s a whole different mindset.

Would you agree with the comments that Staten has made? What do you think the future will hold for Destiny? Let us know your thoughts.